Cascade Wasteland
by Makardia
Summary: In the year 2222 a boy named Henry is assigned a new job at graduation. This new task will broaden his view of the world and may cause the end of him. Follow his adventure in this new story. Hope you all enjoy. it's my first FanFic and I know i enjoyed writing it!


FALLOUT:

Cascade Wasteland

**Chapter one: Graduation**

It's been over 145 years since the Great War between China and America that bathed the land in fire and irradiated the world. During the crisis thousands sought refuge in vaults; underground bunkers designed by VaultTech to house hundreds of people from atomic war. After time these vaults would open and the populace would venture out to re-colonize the land in peace. But where people gather, wars will be waged. And war, war never changes.

"Good morning sir!" said Jeffery in his always cheery tone.

"Good morning Jeffery." Replied Henry

"The overseers speech is today master, may I suggest that you ready yourself?" asked Jeffery

"Ah yes, graduation day. Almost forgot about that." Replied Henry

"Ah master you are truly a comic genius! Forgetting about the most important day in a vault citizens life is a swell joke indeed!" said Jeffery with a laugh.

"Yes… a joke" said Henry in a quiet tone "anyways" he said, voice returning to normal volume "I may as well get ready for the day."

"Excellent!" said Jeffery as he switched the light on.

Henry squinted as the bright lights overhead buzzed to life with a soft hum. Now that the lights were on he could see his entire room in detail. "Not that there is much to see" thought Henry. His room was ten feet by fifteen feet. Exactly the same as every bedroom in vault 20. All that was in his room was one bed, one dresser, a double door locker, and a desk with his 150 year old RobCo computer terminal. This has been his room since he was born and would be his room until he died and was tossed into the Vault Occupant Incinerator Device or as was commonly called by the people in the vault, the V.O.I.D., as he looked around his room his eyes fell on Jeffery, his loyal servant, his steadfast friend, his Mister Handy robotic servant developed by RobCo before the great war. Jeffery looked like an armored floating octopus that could breathe fire. He had three robotic arms and a built in flamethrower and glided around with a steady jet propulsion device. Henry had received Jeffery from his grandfather, or to be more precise, inherited Jeffery from his grandfather. As with all citizens in Vault 20 he obtained his mister handy at the age of thirteen, the same time he received his PipBoy 3000. His PipBoy was his watch like computer, though the only thing that a watch and a PipBoy had in common was the fact that it went around your wrist. His PipBoy was roughly smaller then his forearm and had a light up screen as well as built in personal light. PipBoys were very important to all vault citizens and became as a part of them as their own arms. The PipBoy allowed the wearer to catalog all the information they wanted through a built in scanner that could copy and categorize notes as well as play and copy holodiscs to keep and review later. There was also a map function that allowed the wearer to view his or her current location in the vault. The most vital feature of the PipBoy though is the ability to view the health of the wearer. Through the same DNA encoding that kept it attached to the wearer it is able to correctly display the overall health of the person including status on broken limbs, dehydration, hunger, and most importantly in this day and age, radiation levels to an accuracy of 99%. This too he inherited from his grandfather. He then went to through the automatic doors to the bathroom and hopped into the shower. After he had finished his shower and dried off he pulled on his standard vault 20 jumpsuit which every citizen of the vault wore and headed back to his room.

"How do I look Jeffery?" asked Henry

"Superb sir" replied the robot.

"Alright, well I guess I am off then, I will return later and add that wireless communication link we scavenged off that old wireless P.A. system" said Henry as he walked into the living room.

"Very good sir" replied Jeffery.

FLASH

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

As Henrys vision came back to him after the blinding light he saw his mother, Jessica, putting down her old camera.

"I'm so proud of you sweetheart! Today is such an exciting day!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks mom" said Henry "but it not that big of a deal"

"Henry Lee Bredenson this is one of the most important days of your life! It's the beginning of the rest of your life here in the vault!" she said "Now be a good boy and wake your sister up."

"Alright alright" replied Henry

He walked back into the bedding corridor and went to his sister's door.

"Elizabeth, wake up! Mom wants you out of bed" he said not unkindly

"No! I don't want to! It's not fair!" she shouted through the door.

"What's not fair this time?" said Henry in an exasperated tone.

"You graduating and becoming a full citizen of the vault!" she said

Henry sighed; this had been her current source of anguish for the past two weeks. Elizabeth always wanted whatever Henry had and hated not being equal to him.

"you will be graduating in a mere four years Liz, it's not really that long and if I were you I would take advantage of not having so much responsibility cast upon you." Said Henry calmly in an attempt to placate his unruly sister.

There was silence. Then the door to her room slid up to reveal a green eyed girl with shoulder length brown hair.

"I know" she said quietly "I just know that once you get your task in the vault you won't have any time to hang out with me anymore".

"Liz! You know I will always have time for you" Said Henry. "I'll even teach you how to modify your PipBoy if you want. How does that sound" he asked.

She ran forward and gave him a hug. "You promise?" she asked.

"Of course little sis" He replied "now go and meet mom before she gets in a frenzy and I'll catch up with you later."

She ran down the corridor to where their mother was and he soon followed. After a few more "Congratulations!" and a final "Good luck!" he was off. The layout of the vault was fairly simple and easy to navigate. It was two levels and circular with a main chamber in the middle of the circle and hallways that shot out at all angles. To Henry it looked like spider webs he had seen in prewar books. The bottom floor consisted of the ceremony chamber in the center with the 4 hallways that lead out of it to the cafeteria, the library, the recreational room and the lounge. The top floor consisted of the overseer's office in the center to which only one hallway lead to. There were also two circular hallways that went around the vault. Hallway A, which was the smaller and more towards the center, and Hallway B which was longer and lay more toward the outside edge of the vault. These hallways were then split into four pieces by corridors that, like a compass, went north, east, south, and west and lead from the center and out towards the edge of the vault where elevators would take citizens from the upper living areas to the lower floor of the vault. Henry lived in Hallway B close to the north corridor and so it was quick and easy for him to get to the elevator and head to the bottom floor of the vault. After exiting the elevator he walked near the cafeteria towards the ceremony chamber which is where the graduation was held. As he came close to the door to the cafeteria he saw his best friend Christina walk out.

"Getting a quick breakfast?" asked Henry

"What? Oh! Hi Henry!" she exclaimed upon noticing him "no, I don't think I could keep anything solid down right now, I'm so nervous!"

He let out a small laugh "the great Christina is nervous? How will us mortal men be able to cope if even you can't?" he joked

She smiled and said "I think you will endure."

"We can only hope" he said smiling back '"anyways, if you weren't eating then what were you doing in the Cafeteria?"

"I was thirsty and thought I'd grab something to drink" she said lifting a bottle of Nuka-Cola "and because I am such a lovely person I thought I may as well get one for someone special" she lifted her other hand revealing a second bottle.

"Oh, and who might this special person be?" asked Henry with a grin

"Not sure" she said "maybe someone important to me" then her face broke out in a big smile "but I guess since you're here you can have it" she said placing the bottle in his hand.

He smiled again

"Will I see you in there soon?" she said jerking her thumb towards the ceremony chamber.

"Yeah, of course I just want to get something to eat real quick" he responded

"Ok, want me to save you a seat?" she asked

"That'd be great" he replied and started to walk to the cafeteria

"Oh, and Henry" she said

Henry turned around to face her "yeah?"

"For good luck" and she flipped her bottle cap to him as someone would flip a quarter

He smiled and pocketed the cap along with his own from the Nuka-Cola and went inside the cafeteria. As he walked toward the counter he closed his eyes and saw Christina's smile. They had always been friends since they were little and she was the only person in the vault other than his family that he could trust. They were the best of friends, but over the past couple of years he had begun to see her differently. He had grown and so had she. He came to love everything about her appearance. She had long brown hair that fell in slight curls and would bounce slightly when she walked. Her eyes were wide as if everything interested her and were of the most beautiful blue he had ever seen, like what he imagined the sky would look like. Sometimes when she talked to him he wouldn't be able to look away from her soft smooth lips. He had wanted to be with her for a while now and had on several occasions almost voiced this feeling. He had however been unsuccessful for two reasons. One being he didn't know if she had similar feelings toward him and the second one was that he didn't want to ruin their friendship. He cleared his mind and walked around until he got to the mister handy manning the counter.

"Good morning Richard" Henry said

"Ah, master Henry how may I be of service?" replied the robot

"Need a small snack to get me through graduation" said Henry

"Would you like a bowl of sugar bombs sir?" said Richard

"No thank you, I don't have the time to eat that" said Henry "just give me a fancy lad snack cake."

"Very good sir" said Richard handing Henry the food

"Thank you very much Richard" said Henry walking out of the cafeteria

Henry made his way towards the ceremony chamber and after finishing his snack made to toss the box in the trash but missed.

"Isn't that pathetic" said a voice behind him "can't even make it in the trash bin when standing right next to it can you?"

Henry turned around and to his dismay saw john. John was a part of the same graduating class as Henry. He was a tall boy with shoulder length black hair and pale skin. He was fairly well built which was partly due to the fact that he was on the vaults baseball and basketball team. Henry and john had never got along and Henry couldn't even remember how their hatred had started.

"Hello john" said Henry "I am surprised to see you here, didn't know they were going to let you graduate."

"Well, when your father is the one that controls and maintains the water and power for the vault you tend to get some special treatment." Said john with a crooked grin

"Ah, I see. Using other people to help you get through life are you?" Said Henry in a light slightly mocking tone

"Damn straight!" said john with a sneer "it's not what you know, it's who you know"

He then finished of his Nuka-cola and tossed it from thirty feet back into the trash bin where it landed with a loud crash as the bottle shattered upon landing.

"Anyways" said john who shoved Henry as he walked by "I better be going to the graduation before the tasks are assigned. See you around bitch"

As John walked away through the door Henry took a moment to utilize several of his favorite curse words and then made off to the chamber as well. As he made it to the large metallic door it slid open revealing an enormous room slightly larger than the indoor baseball field in the recreational wing of the vault. The walls were metal as with all walls in the vault and the room was in the shape of a dome. At the top of the dome was a 20x20 flat pane of 6 ft thick crystal clear glass that was also the floor in the overseer's office. At one end of the room was a stage with a large screen about 100 feet long and 50 feet tall which was connected to a large computer. This was surrounded by many rows of semi circle benches where citizens could sit and view whatever was happening on the stage. This is where the graduation ceremony took place. The graduation ceremony was the event that assigned vault 20 citizens their permanent job. These jobs were selected at random by the computer and would display the person's job on the screen for all to see. That is why education in the vault focused on a large assortment of things. It had to because each citizen needed to at least have a basic understanding of whatever job they received. Whatever the most common jobs were was what the classes focused more on and the more rare jobs had less time devoted to them. This ceremony was the most important of all events held in the vault and as Henry walked into the room he saw almost every citizen finding seats and saw his classmates sitting in a long bench by the stage. He made his way over to them and saw Christina waving her hands to signal him over. He quickly took a seat next to her and they all waited for the overseer.

"Wow….there is a lot of people out there" said Christina

"Yeah" said Henry

"I can't believe this day is finally here, I'm so nervous, isn't this such a huge moment in our lives" she said

"Yeah" Henry said

She gave him a quizzical look "are you alright?" she said.

"Yeah" he said again

"Are you sure, you seem a li-"

She was cut off when the overseer walked in and made her way to the stage which started applause to ring out from all the citizens. She went up to the microphone in front of the stage and once all the applause had subsided she started to speak.

"Vault 20 citizens, today is a very important day. As you all know today is graduation day for the class of 2222. Today we have the privilege and honor to see our youth bloom into active adult citizens and to see them take their place among us in the vault. "She turned to the bench of students beside the stage "without further wait will the class of 2222 line up to be assigned their vault tasks"

Huge amounts of applause rang through as the class lined up. Once on stage a terminal raised up through the floor. The terminal had a hole in it that when a graduate stuck their arm in it would link up with the graduates PipBoy and randomly select a task for them in the vault. Their PipBoy would then be uploaded with information on what their job was and some tips on how to perform the job. The screen above the stage flickered to life and the name Gregory Stanton appeared in large letters. Gregory walked forward as the crowd applauded and slid his hand in the terminal. Less than a minute later the job Robot Repairman popped up and Gregory removed his hand and sat on the other side of the stage while the crowd burst into applause once again. Two more people walked forward and were assigned their jobs as janitor and teacher. Then it was Christina's turn. She walked up and inserted her left arm into the machine. Henry had always wondered what her job would be and hoped it wasn't low class grunt work. His answer wasn't long in waiting. Not thirty seconds later her job title was brought up on the screen. Overseer. There was a silence in the crowd and Christina shot a quick glance at Henry as if to confirm that what she saw was real. Then the crowd burst into the loudest applause yet. Christina, looking shocked, walked toward the other side of the stage where the others who had been assigned their jobs sat. She sat down and threw another quick glance at Henry, but this time, he could've sworn he saw her mouth twitch into a faint smile. John went up next. He walked, or rather strutted, up to the terminal and inserted his arm into it. After about a minute the job recreational manager popped up on the screen.

"Great" thought Henry "now they have given control of the vaults leisure time to an asshole with a superiority complex."

Then after another graduate, who obtained a job with vault security, it was Henry's turn. He walked up to the terminal. His heart was racing as he realized that his entire life was about to be decided right here and now. He slowly made his way to his destiny. Once he had made it to the terminal he looked quickly at Christina, who gave him a small smile. He lifted his arm which felt like it was made of lead. He slowly slid it into the terminal and once it was in all the way he felt tug and a latch as the terminal synced up with his PipBoy and began to randomly select his job, his life, his destiny, and his legacy. Soon after he had started the process he realized something must be wrong. He heard the ping as the job was selected and heard his PipBoy hum as the data for his new job was uploaded, but what he didn't hear was applause. He wondered at it because everyone else had received at the very least moderate applause. He again looked at Christina and instantly his stomach went to ice. On her face was a look of horror, confusion, and another look she had never given him before, pity. Henry slowly looked up towards the giant screen and his stomach seemed to fall out of him. Upon the screen was a job that had only been given out once before. Scout. The world went silent. Henrys arm was no longer locked into the machine but still he did not move. He remained standing there, looking at the screen, until the overseer put her hand on his shoulder and walked him off stage. As he sat next to Christina he released his breath, which he realized he had been holding since he saw his title broadcasted on the screen. Christina said something to him, but he heard nothing. He didn't say anything, and he shut his eyes so that he wouldn't see anything either. But once he closed his eyes the image of the screen showing the job "scout" appeared and again his stomach iced over. He sat there long after everyone had left; he stayed in the chamber for hours until a voice brought him out of his stupor.

"Hey" said the voice softly

He turned his head and saw Christina standing several feet away from him. She walked closer and he saw that her eyes were watery. This surprised Henry as he had never seen her so much as cry before. He looked into those blue eyes which now, with her unfallen tears, looked like a deep mournful lake. She sat next to him and placed her hand on his.

"Are you alright?" she asked

Steeling himself he said "yeah" then let out a false laugh "just a shock is all"

She saw right through his façade "you can talk to me you know, I understand that you might be scared."

"Do you?" he said, a bitter tone breaking through his voice "do you understand how I feel? I think not. How could you? You get to lead this vault and I" his voice cracked "I get the honor of being sent to my death out there in the-" he made a gesture in the direction the vault door lay at "-wastes" he said the last word through clenched teeth.

"Don't say that!" she exclaimed "you're not going to die!"

"You know as well as I do what happened to the last citizen that was assigned to be a scout!" he said both louder and harsher then he meant.

She recoiled slightly and taking her hand off of his said "that was 83 years ago." She then stood up and walked toward the exit of the chamber. Halfway there she turned her head and said "I'm sorry Henry. I really am." She then continued her exit and left the chamber. Henry watched her leave and after she had left the chamber he stared at the door for several minutes before finally standing up and heading to his own room.


End file.
